US man imprisoned for 38 years freed by long-untested DNA evidence
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A US man who spent almost four decades in prison for alleged murder has been freed after new DNA evidence revealed that the "evidence" belonged to somebody else.
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Maurice Hastings smiles at a hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court where a judge dismissed his conviction for murder after new DNA evidence exonerated him, Oct. 20, 2022, in Los Angeles. (J. Emilio Flores/AP)
Maurice Hastings, a man who served more than 38 years behind bars for a 1983 murder and two attempted murders has been freed from a California prison after long-untested DNA evidence led to the actual perpetrator, Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascón revealed.
The guilty man that the DNA evidence pointed to died in prison in 2020.
Hastings, who is 69 today, has been released after his 1988 conviction was vacated on October 20.
"I prayed for many years that this day would come," Hastings said at a news conference on Friday, adding, "I am not pointing fingers. I am not standing up here a bitter man, but I just want to enjoy my life now while I have it."
In a statement, Gascón described Hastings' conviction as a "terrible injustice," adding that "the justice system is not perfect, and when we learn of new evidence which causes us to lose confidence in a conviction, it is our obligation to act swiftly.”
What happened?
The 1983 murder took the life of Roberta Wydermyer, who was found in her vehicle's trunk with a gunshot wound to the head, and an investigation showed that she had been sexually assaulted.
Hastings was charged with murder, and prosecutors sought the death penalty; however, the jury deadlocked. A second jury then convicted him, and Hastings was sentenced to life in state prison in 1988 without the possibility of parole.
When an autopsy was conducted on Wydermyer's body, the coroner carried out a sexual assault test and found evidence that could have changed the conviction if a DNA test was done 38 years ago. However, the district attorney rejected the request for DNA testing back then.
While Hastings has maintained his innocence over the years and was finally able in 2021 to put in a claim of innocence to the DA's Conviction Integrity Unit, DNA testing was done in June and found the evidence to be incompatible with Hastings' DNA.
The DNA found on the evidence was actually matching that of a person convicted of an armed abduction and rape of a woman who was placed in a vehicle's trunk.
That person, whose name was not released, was sentenced to 56 years in prison for his crimes and died there.
